


wise men say, only fools rush in

by reginasmills



Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: F/M, Please Send Help, i am down a nadine and mike b hole and i physically cannot stop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:35:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22135642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reginasmills/pseuds/reginasmills
Summary: Mike B and Nadine meet again under less than desirable circumstances.
Relationships: Mike Barnow/Nadine Tolliver
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	wise men say, only fools rush in

Mike hasn’t seen Nadine in 1 year, 5 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days. Not that he has been keeping track, _exactly_. In fact, he likes to think that he had stopped caring about her since he had walked out of her office on that awful day and never looked back. But he _knows_ that was a lie. Loathe as he is to admit it, he misses her – her low sweet laugh, her eyes, bright with mirth, the way she kissed him. They _worked_. Well, until they didn’t.

He tries to convince himself that he won’t care when he sees her again. Then, he _sees_ her. Specifically, he sees her in the State Department’s carpark, after an impromptu meeting with Bess. His heart genuinely skips a beat ( _he didn’t think that actually happened in real life, but now he knows better_ ), and he suddenly feels the urge to hide behind a car. He decides to act upon that urge, because the rest of his brain is a complete blank right now. It’s not his fault that he hasn’t exactly read the protocol for _“what to do when you see your ex who you are still in love with in your boss’s carpark and she hasn’t noticed you and you can’t decide if you want her to”_. Someone should write a book about that, he muses half-heartedly, as he watches her dig around in her handbag for her keys, and admires how lovely her shoulders look in the cream sleeveless top that she’s wearing today.

A man’s voice calls her name and she turns around. Mike squints at the guy, trying to make his face out, though the fact that he is trying to remain hidden, and that they are approximately 10 rows down from him, is really not helping his cause. _Is that her new boyfriend?_ He finds that he doesn’t really want to know the answer to that question, and something deep within his chest twists a little in jealousy.

He feels slightly pleased when he sees that Nadine doesn’t look all too happy at seeing the man. _Probably not her boyfriend then_ , he can’t help from rejoicing internally _. Doesn’t mean there isn’t one though,_ the other part of his brain prompts helpfully, and his spirits dim somewhat.

His increasingly jealous thoughts are abruptly cut off when the guy grabs Nadine by the arm and throws her roughly against the pillar next to where her car is parked. Even from this distance, he can hear Nadine’s grunt of pain.

“Hey!” the angered shout is out of his mouth before he’s really had the time to think through this course of action.

“Get your hands off her,” he yells, moving towards the pair.

Nadine’s eyes widen slightly, even as the man’s narrow into menacing slits. Mike realises at this point that the guy is at least several inches taller than him, and definitely way bulkier. He _really_ hasn’t thought this through. But well, he is nothing if not determined when it comes to following through with a course of action that he has embarked on.

“Get your hands off her,” he repeats, his voice hard, as he reaches them.

“Or what?” the man drawls, tightening his grip on Nadine’s arm, as she attempts to twist herself free of his grasp.

“I said, get your hands off her,” Mike grits out, teeth clenched in fury.

“Your new boy toy, Nadine? Didn’t think he was your type,” the man turns to raise a mocking eyebrow at Nadine.

“He’s not – ” Nadine hisses.

“I really don’t care,” the man cuts her off, brusquely. He turns to Mike.

“Stay out of this, Mr Barnow,” the man says, slowly, deliberately, “this is between me and Nadine over here, and you _really_ don’t want to get involved.”

“Right, Nadine?” the man turns to her, and his grip around her arm tightens even further, causing her to wince slightly.

Mike sees red, and the next thing he knows, he has punched the guy in the face. The guy shoves Nadine aside roughly, and rounds on him, swinging his fist. _Uh-oh._ Mike barely dodges the first blow, and the second catches him in the jaw. Mike stumbles back, and then makes what is possibly the stupidest decision of his life. He jumps the guy. He has no idea why he had even thought it would work, and he’s seriously regretting his life choices when approximately 2 seconds later, the guy has him pinned to the floor, and is currently attempting to choke the life out of him.

Just as he thinks that death in this carpark is becoming rather a serious possibility, the man yowls in pain, releasing his grip on him.

“You _bitch_ ,” the man snarls, clambering to his feet to face Nadine, who Mike realises (in between rather desperate gulps for air), has just kicked the guy square in the balls. He’s amazed, and just a little terrified. The man takes a swing at Nadine, who ducks nimbly. He growls, infuriated, and then barrels straight at her. Mike frantically attempts to scramble to his feet even as various parts of his body protest, because Nadine most certainly does not stand a chance against this hulk of a man, and he’ll be damned if he lets this bastard hurt her.

He manages to heave himself into a standing position just as the man slams Nadine against her car, causing her to cry out in pain. _Think_ , Mike hisses at himself internally, _think!_ Groggily, he looks around, trying to find something he could use as a makeshift weapon. His eyes settle on a fire extinguisher. _Bingo._ Stumbling over, he wrestles with it, attempting to free it from the wall, his panic escalating further when he hears the sound of a blow being struck, followed by Nadine’s yelp of pain.

Driven by a mounting sense of desperation, he somehow manages to twist the fire extinguisher free and charges at the man, swinging it at his head even as the man raises his fist to strike Nadine again. The fire extinguisher connects with the man’s head and there is a loud, satisfying _thunk_ \- he sways a little, before crumpling to the floor, unconscious. Mike drops the fire extinguisher with a clang and moves towards Nadine, who is struggling to stand, her left ankle twisted at an awkward angle.

“Are you alright?” Mike can’t quite conceal the panic and worry in his voice.

“Fine,” Nadine replies, calm as can be, even as she clutches at the car’s door to maintain her balance.

There’s a beat of silence, and then –

“Thanks,” Nadine says, and gestures to the unconscious man behind them, “for that.”

“No worries. I could totally take him.” Mike replies, wondering if it would be too much to throw in a wink at this point, and decides to do it anyway, just because.

Nadine’s lips quirk up slightly in amusement, despite the situation. _Score!_ Mike thinks, gleefully, to himself.

“I’ll drive you home,” Mike says, gesturing to the car.

He pauses, frowning at the still unconscious man on the floor, “Though we _should_ probably get security to deal with that first.”

“I’m fine,” Nadine insists, waving off his concern as she hobbles to where she had dropped her bag when that _asshole_ first slammed her against the wall. She stoops down to pick it up, and winces as her ankle gives an unforgiving twinge. Straightening up, she is careful to wipe the expression of pain off her face before facing Mike, but judging by his vaguely smug expression, he had guessed as much.

She rings security and shoots him a baleful glare as she does so – she knows she should be more grateful, because god _knows_ what would have happened if he hadn’t shown up, but they weren’t exactly friends anymore, and this whole situation was now one big _awkward_ mess. 

And because she hates feeling wrong-footed, she tosses a barb in his direction.

“You ought to get yourself checked out at the hospital – you did hit that ground pretty hard,” she says, placidly.

“We could get checked out _together_ ,” Mike says, and she has _no idea_ how he had managed to make that line sound like a come-on.

She rolls her eyes, and is just about to come back with a retort (something along the lines of, “ _Grow up, Mike,”_ ) when the phone line connects to security. Filing away her annoyed response for later, she informs security that _Yes,_ there has been an incident, and _No,_ the Secretary was not involved, and _Yes,_ medical help was probably a good idea seeing that the other guy was out cold, and that _No_ , she was fine and absolutely did not need an ambulance for herself, and _No_ , she was not in the right frame of mind to give a witness statement right now and could they just _please_ check the surveillance cameras in the carpark for footage.

After reassuring security that she would be in tomorrow, hopefully in a better state, for them to take an official statement of the altercation, she hangs up the phone with a sigh. Looking up, she finds that Mike is gazing at her in the way he used to, all warmth and fondness. Her heart stutters, just a little. 

“What?” she says, hoping she sounds more annoyed than flustered.

“Nothing. I just love watching you talk,” Mike says, gently. The quiet honesty in his voice is what sets her cheeks aflame, and she turns her head away from him, refusing to get caught blushing like an errant schoolgirl.

She limps to the driver’s side of the car, wanting nothing more than to get out of this situation _fast_ , before it escalated into something that she would rather _not_ think about. Unfortunately, Mike is there before her, and swipes the keys from her hand before she can even make a noise of indignation. Firmly ignoring her protests, Mike gently steers her in the direction of the passenger seat, and then gets into the car and starts the engine.

“You haven’t moved, I assume?” Mike says, casually.

“No.” Nadine glares at him, but reluctantly concedes, slumping back into the seat in exhaustion.

This scene feels all too familiar – the two of them driving off from the State Department to one of their houses together - that she feels an almost physical stab of pain in her chest. _What we could have been, the two of us._

She turns her face towards the window, and closes her eyes. _What we could have been._

**Author's Note:**

> oh my god, this story is a mess and i'm sorry, i just had to get my nadine / mike b obsession out somewhere. hope you liked it and come chat with me on @nxrcissablacks on tumblr!
> 
> ps. of course i know that driving off and leaving the guy there for security to find isn't what would happen in real life but let's ignore that because i needed the plot to move and i was lazy, yikes


End file.
